In an typically astute review of the new In Flames disc Sounds of a Playground Fading penned for the issue of Decibel hitting stands right about now, Adrien Begrand argues -- correctly, in my negligible opinion -- that despite the Gothenburg quintet's obvious (and occasionally egregious) missteps, far too much of the band's post-Clayman output is unfairly dismissed out of hand by once-admiring ...

Photo: Cee Lo Green, working out his Immortal aspirations. Perhaps our most high-profile Closet Metalhead to date, Cee Lo Green turns 37 today. I had the honor of interviewing him for Decibel #76, and in case you missed it (order it here), here's an excerpt: When I was a kid, we would go out to buy albums and we’d just stare at them, like Eddie from Iron Maiden. It was that artful aspect ...

Most people are picking up on Lifelover at Konkurs due to the Prophecy re-issue. Is that a good starting point for people interested in Lifelover? Kim Carlsson: Definitely, even though any of our albums would be a good starting-point Konkurs involves many of our trademark elements, so if it's followed by our current release Sjukdom the evolution in this album will of course feel more logical ...

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don't get nearly enough love, stuff that's essential listening for students of extreme metal that you may not have ever heard of.  Stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This week, after months of quasi-industrial and American NWOBHM acts, we're covering an ...

Our second eulogy for dearly departed Metalgazers Isis includes more reminiscing from the band, more photos (again thanks to Mark Dawursk) and an old school live clip from one of our favorite songs. Let's get to it: Bryant Clifford Meyer (Electronics, Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals) For some reason my memory has become slightly out of whack - fragmented and confused. It's frankly ...

It's been almost a year since thinking man's metalheads Isis hung up the reverb pedals, but they have returned, in vinyl form, to celebrate their legacy. Five live albums are set to be released by the band, the first one coming at you this Tuesday, May 31st (pre-order here). And they have sent us video, photos and musings that illustrate a band who was around for a long time but still not quite ...

Almost every band has that album: you know, the critically and/or commercially reviled dud in an otherwise passable-to-radical back catalog. Well, every Wednesday morning, a Decibel staffer or special guest will take to the Deciblog to bitch and moan at length as to why everybody’s full of shit and said dud is, in fact, The Shit. Today, one of our more convincing and thorough Justifiers, ...

Here I am back after a long silence. What can I say?! I naively thought I could be writing while on tour... I was wrong. For one, I was sick as a dog during the majority of the European tour, so for the most part the routine was: from bed to stage to bed. Day in. Day out. After the tour, I had a few days off [so I] went to the hospital got checked up and adequate medication. Eventually, I got ...

There's a whole lot of scary to live up to when one christens a band The Beast of the Apocalypse, but on Henosis these down and dirty Dutch black metallers give the Dark One a run for his money. The Dictionary of Spiritual Terms defines henosis as "the soul’s purification, accomplished primarily through philosophy, culminates in noetic vision and finally in mystical union," but I feel more ...

Metal is pervasive. It has no geographic restrictions. There are few countries worldwide—at least according to Metal Archives—that don’t have a grimace-faced metal act waiting to bash heads in and rebel against the shit that gets ‘em down. Now, I’m sure you’ve heard of Italy’s Necrodeath at one point or another. In fact, you’ve probably said, “Hey, Necrodeath. Cool. But I’d ...